Hi--
Trygve writes:
The idea of "burn the disk packs" was a fundamental mistake; it
doesn't take into account that the value of a release image is
minuscule compared to the value added by user/programmers. The idea of
a personal computer cannot be reconciled with the idea of throwing
everything away every few years. What about my address book, my diary,
the useful program I wrote two years ago, the program I'm working on
now. (My programs are part of my personal data)
Well, I wasn't asking anyone to throw anything away. I was asking
for planning. Continuity is actually very important to me. Indeed, if it
weren't, I wouldn't have taken the tactic of changing Squeak into what I
want; I would have made something completely new. I'm also putting a lot
of work into paths from current Squeak to Spoon (e.g., adapting my VM
and remote browsing changes to Squeak 3.9).
We agree on this point. I'm afraid I was riding a hobby horse here.
I am working on my own pet project(s). Like everyone else, I am trying
to avoid committing /error 33: Predicating one research effort upon
the success of another.
(http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/E/error-33.html)
Ah, but I think we take that too far and commit error 34 (insisting
upon small incremental changes *at all times*) and error 35 (being
unwilling to imagine a way to achieve larger changes in the future). I
think these are much worse than error 33, and as an exquisite case in
point I present the very origin of that term, Xerox PARC. :)
I know error 33 came from PARC; I was there. But you misunderstand it.
It leaves you free to reinvent the world, but warns me about
prematurely building on your results. I do not insist on small
incremental changes. That is precisely why I hope for a usable SPOON,
an environment for a new and fundamental change that can co-exist with
the old.
Still, I do want to try SPOON. But I got wary when I followed the
installation directions and immediately crashed. Perhaps the project
hasn't got as far as I expected.
It is indeed alpha software currently, as marked. Still, I hadn't
thought that would keep people from considering possibilities.
You first have to give me something to consider...